Almost two years ago — when the letters-to-the-editor in my local paper reached a fevered pitch (letters whose content would break any parent’s — or grandparent’s — heart) — I attended a presentation made by a parent-advocacy group from Colorado.

The group often finds itself in profound opposition to CPS policy and action. In contrast with Book’s middle-class observations, the group said that parents of more modest means (i.e., poor parents) were the usual victims of CPS whims and indiscretions.

The horrors of foster care were convincingly discussed at length.

Unfortunately, the group’s founder and chief spokeswoman was WACKO beyond sympathy. And *some* of the parents who shared their stories certainly sounded as if they deserved the CPS intervention that befell them. HINT: Don’t leave your 15 year-old son to fend for himself at home while you vacation in Australia for six weeks over the Xmas holidays!

So, the presentation left me with strongly mixed feelings.

Mostly I think we should all Praise God if we never have to deal with CPS.

Even the best parents make mistakes and have accidents. Indeed, I know of one family where, after the father inadvertently scratched the child while rescuing him from a tumble, the parents bandaged the child so that neighbors wouldn’t get any ideas and call CPS on them. That’s the busy-body/CPS conundrum in a nutshell. It doesn’t stop bad parents; it frightens good parents.

Re:Seargent Dave’s story:
Why would someone call the CPS from an ER waiting room? All physicians are mandated reporters. Why would CPS go to a waiting room instead of waiting for the physician to examine and interview first? Reports are anonymous and even if the nurse overheard someone calling, people are allowed to report if they have a suspicion. The burden of proof according to CPS is on the parents (this is why in so many bitter divorces, parents charge the other routinely with abuse with no proof). The busybody did not commit a crime by reporting a suspicion, unless she made false claims such as stating she saw the mother strike the child.
Like I said, my experience with CPS has been under-response, not overkill. In the case described, all CPS would have had to do is call the school to verify the parents’ story.
Finally. how on earth did did anyone get the background information about the “busybody”? Shouldn’t that be confidential?

Certainly it is a system needing fixing. One problem with abuse is that it doesn’t occur everyday, all the time. A child could be very abused but have no marks at any given time. Many abused children are not forthcoming. They love their parents and don’t want to be taken away, or they are terrified to tell and get in worse trouble. Unless the caseworker sees proof, or the parent or child admits to something (and caseworkers do have some awareness of manipulative lying teens too), they can’t do much except encourage parenting and close the case for lack of evidence.

Some foster homes are great. Many are minimal improvement over the home they were removed from. A well-run orphanage could be much better fro many.
I agree with Al; most of the foster kids I have known were removed because of severe abuse or neglect usually secondary to parental drug addiction.

It is a hard job with on the spot judgments.

On the other hand, a friend proceeded to tell me about something she had heard from a neighbor about a child living nearby who was, to my third-hand ears, indulging in major sexual acting-out. We’re talking about a five-year-old here, not a teenager, so there was probably something going on. I told my friend to call CPS or tell her neighbor to call but no one ever did, so God knows how that little girl will survive. This wasn’t a bruise from falling down; this was a girl who was rubbing against people in a decidedly sexual manner. Of course this was an upper middle class neighborhood so maybe nothing would have happened.

I hate the whole stinking system but I don’t know what would be better. We cannot pretend that monsters don’t have children sometimes and we cannot abandon children to monsters, not unless we are ourselves monsters.

Or is that your way of saying “LALALALALA?”